Machine for stamping sand molds.



A. T. DRYSDALE.

MACHINE FOR STAMPING SAND MOLDS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 5. |915.

1,154,238. Patentedept. 21, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

' 'JIL III I CoLUMBIA PLANOURAPM C0., WASHINGTON, D, c.

A. T. DRYSDALE.

MACHINE FOR STAMPING SAND MOLDS.

APPLICATION HLED JUNE 5, Isla.

1,154,288. Patentedsept. 21, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2. M, a. vf/g ALEXANDER T. DRYSIDALE, OE BURLINGTON,JERSEY.

MACHINE FOR STAMPIN'G SAND MOLDS.

Application filed June 5, 1915.

T0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER T. DRYs- DALE, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Burlington, in the county of Burlington and State ofNew Jersey, have invented a new and useful Machine for Stamping SandMolds, of which the following is a specification.

In the manufacture of cast iron pipe, such as water or gas mains, it isdesirable, and sometimes necessary, to have various lettering cast onthe pipe in raised letters, such as the name of the manufacturer, theyear in which the pipe is cast, the name of the customer, and theconsecutive number of the pipe.

At present, this lettering is done by hand, the individual letters beingmounted lon wooden blocks, and the letters being separately stamped intothe mold by pressing these wooden blocks against the sand manually. Thisis not only troublesome, but does not produce good results, as by reasonof the carelessness of the molders the lettering may be crooked,thedepth of the letters may lack uniformity, and the whole legend maysometimes be entirely illegible. lSometimes this results in therejection of thepipe by the inspector, and Vsuch rejections aresometimes so frequent as to cause serious trouble, delay, and loss.

It is the object of my present invention to provide a machine which willstamp all the letters at one time, and will insure their being perfectlyalined and perfectly legible, and by which the letters may be made ofany desired depth and all of uniform depth.

In carrying out my invention l provide a main body which is sufiicientlysmall so that it can be inserted in the mold and which carries anynumber of radially movable letter blocks, on which are mounted lthedesired letters. These letter blocks are springpressed inward, but maybe moved outward by air pressure, which is supplied to the interior ofthe body to act against the inner surfaces of the letter blocks.Y Tnorder to lessen the machine work, there is preferably provided an airbag of some iieXible material within the body, the air pressure beingsupplied to the interior of this .bag and the exterior thereof bearingagainst the letter blocks. The body is also made in a plurality ofparts, which are acted against by the same air bag so that these partsare .spread to engage the mold walls before the letter Speeicaton ofLetters Patent.

Patented. Sept. y21, 1915.

Serial No. 32,412.

blocks are moved radially to force the letters into the mold.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 is a vertical central section through a mold showing myimproved mold stamping machine in place therein; Fig. 2 is a verticalsection through the mold stamping machine, on a slightly larger scalethan Fig. 1, being taken substantially on the line 2 2 of Fig. l andshowing the letter blocks forced outward ;l Fig. 3 is a plan of the moldstamping machine shown in Fig. 2; Fig. l is a section on the line li-lof Fig. l2; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the letter blocks;and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the letter type which areremovably mounted in the letter blocks.

The mold stamping machine has a hollow substantially cylindrical bodywhich is made in a plurality of parts. As shown, there are two matingparts 10 and 11, which are substantially semi-cylindrical in shape, withinwardly projecting flanges 12 at their ends, to form the end closingplates of the hollow cylinder. The two parts 10 and 11 are connected. byalined hinges 13 at one side so that they can have a Yslight opening and.closing movement relative to each other. A

tension spring 14. tends to draw the two parts 10 and 11 together' aboutthe hinges 13. The joint between the parts 10 and 11 opposite ythehinges 13 is covered by a lap strip 23, to keep sand out of the insideof the body. The surfaces of the parts 10 and 11 are cut away from andwithin the true cylindrical form as they approach their meeting plane,to provide for clearance when inserting the machine into and removing itfrom the mold.

Eachof the parts 10 and 11 has one or more longitudinal openings 15 inits walls, which openings extend nearly to both ends, and in theseopenings are mcuted radially movable letter blocks 16. These letterblocks are of the form shown in Fig. 5, with a main portion slidablyfitting in Vthe opening 15, a pair of lateral flanges 17 near theirinner surface for limiting the outward movement of the letter blocks byengaging the walls of the members 10 or 11, and a dove-tailed slideway18 in its exterior face. This dove-tailed slideway 18 is closed at thelower end, but is open and partly cut away at the upper end to allow theinsertion and removal of the type blocks 19, which slidingly fit in suchdove-tail slideway and have exterior faces which are curved to lit themold wall and bear raised letters 20. Ordinarily, there is but oneletter on each type block. By this construction the type in thedifferent letter blocks may be changed without removingthe letter blocksfrom the body portion. The letter blocks have leaf springs 21 attachedto them for bearing against the inside wall of the members 10 and 11 andtending to draw the letter blocks 16 inward so that the outer surfacesof the letters 20 will be inside of the cylindrical form of the outerwalls of the parts 10 and 11, for purposes hereinafter apparent. rlheinward movement of the letter blocks 16 is limited by the heads of guidescrews 22.

lWithin the hollow body formed by the parts 10 and 11 is an air bag 25,of any suitable fleXible material, such as rubber. This bag restsagainst the inner surfaces of the c letter blocks 16, which are slightlyconcave to receive it, and also against intermediate lsupports 26between adjacent letter blocks 16. The ends of the air bag 25 areprovided by a plate 27, preferably of metal, at the bottom and a plate28, also preferably of metal at the top. AThe plate 28 has a centralboss which is threaded to receive the lower end of a pipe 29, which alsoextends through a central boss 30 on the end plate 12 of the member 10,the interfitting end plate 12 on the member 11 being hollowed out to fitaround such boss 30.V [a lock nut 31 may be mounted onv the pipe 29above the boss 30. The pipe 29 forms both the support for the machineand a supply pipe for the air. Itis provided at the desired distanceabove the machine with a pair of cross arms 32, for engaging the top ofthe mold and thus fixing the depth to which the stamping machine islowered into the mold. At its upper end the pipe 29 leads into athree-way valve 83, which on one side is connected by a rubber hose 311to any suitable source of air pressure and at the other is connected toan upwardly turned l.. 35 for discharging into the atmosphere.

ln operation, the sand mold 110 is formed in the flask 41 in anyordinary or convenient manner. Then the mold has been formed ready forlettering, my improved mold stamping machine is lowered into the mold,until the arms 32 strike the top of the mold, as shown in Fig. 1. 'Whilethe mold stamping machine is thus being lowered, the interior of the airbag 25 is connected to the atmosphere so that the springs 21 hold theletter blocks 16 inward and the spring 14 holds` the two parts 10 and 11drawn together. When the mold stamping machine has been loweredl intoplace, the desired lettering being of course arranged in the letterAblock 16 before lowering it, Vthe valve 33 Vis turned to admit airVfrom the pipe 341 to the interiorrof the air bag 25. The springs 21 and14 are of such relative strength that the air pressure thus admitted tothe air bag 25 first moves the two parts 10 and 11 relatively to eachother about the hinges 13 to cause the outer walls of the parts 10 andy11 to engage the walls of the mold firmly, and then the continuedsupply of air to the airbag 25 forces the letter blocks 16 outwardsimultaneously to cause the letters 20 on the type blocks 19 to embedthemselves in the mold walls. The air pressure in the bag 25 is uniformthroughout the bag, of course, so that the letter blocks 16 moveradially, and so that the various letters are all embedded tosubstantially the same depth. When the letters 2O have been pressed intothe mold walls, the valve 33 is turned to allow the air in the air bag25 to escape to the atmosphere through the exhaust L 35, whereupon thesprings-21 first force the letter blocks 16 radially inward and then thespring 14 pulls the two parts 10 and 11 together. Then the mold stampingmachine may be withdrawn 'Y from the mold, and the pipe cast in the moldin the usual manner. Since the'letters 2O are within the cylindricaloutline of the machine, the letters do not drag against the mold wallwhen the machineV is being inserted or withdrawn, and because of therelative strength of the springs 21 and 141 the movement of the letterblocks is always radial so as to produce perfectly legible lety terstlllhen the next pipe mold is ready, the lettering on the mold stampingmachine may be changed as desired and the operation repeated with suchmold.

I claim as my invention: Y

1. A mold stamping machine, comprising a hollow body portion composed ofa plurality'of parts movable relatively to each other, a spring tendingto draw said parts portion to slide kinward and outward, a springtending to draw said letter block inward, said last-named spring beingstronger than said first-named spring, and

together, a letterblock mounted in said body Y means for applying iiuidpressure within said body to move said body parts outward relatively toeach other and to move said letter block outward relative to the body.

2. A mold stamping machine, comprising a hollow body portion, a letterblock mount- .Y ed in said body portion to slide inward and outward, aspring tending to draw said letter block inward, and means for applyingfluid pressure within said body to move said letter blockoutwardrelative to the body.

3. A mold stamping machine,`comprising a hollow'body portion composed ofaplurality of parts movable relatively to each other, a letter blockmounted in said body portion to slide inward and outward, a.

spring tending to draw` said letter block inward, and means for applyingfluid pressure within said body to move said body parts outwardrelatively to each other and to move said letter block outward relativeto the body.

il. A mold stamping machine, comprising a hollow body portion, a letterblock mounted in said body portion to slide inward and outward, a springtending to draw said letter block inward, and means for applying fluidpressure within said body to move said letter block outward relative tothe body.

5. A mold stamping machine, comprising a hollow body portion, a letterblock mounted in said body portion to slide inward and outward, andmeans for applying fluid pressure within said body to move said letterblock outward relative to the body.

6. A mold stamping machine, comprising a hollow body portion, a letterblock mounted in said body portion to slide inward and outward, meansfor applying uid pressure within said body to move said letter blockoutward relative to the body, and type letters removably mounted in saidletter block.

7. A mold stamping machine, comprising a hollow body portion comprisinga plurality of relatively movable parts, a spring tending to draw saidparts together, a letter block mounted in said body portion and movableinward and outward relatively thereto, a spring tending to draw saidletter block inward, said last-named spring being stronger than saidfirst-named spring, an air bag of flexible material mounted within saidhollow body and bearing against said block, and means for supplyingfluid pressure to the interior of said air bag for spreading the partsof the body part and for forcing said letter block outward.

8. A mold stamping machine, comprising a hollow body portion, a letterblock mounted in said body portion and movable inward and outwardrelatively thereto, a spring tending to draw said letter block inward,said last-named spring being stronger than said first-named spring, anair bag of flexible material mounted within said hollow body and bearingagainst said block, and means for supplying fluid pressure to theinterior ofvsaid air bag for forcing said letter block outward.

9. A mold stamping machine, comprising a hollow body portion comprisinga plurality of relatively movable parts, a letter block mountedin saidbody portion and movable inward and outward relativelythereto, a springtending to draw said letter block inward, an air bag of flexiblematerial mounted within said hollow body and bearing against said block,and means for supplying fluid pressure to the interior of said air bagfor spreading the parts of the body part and for forcing said letterblock outward.

l0. A mold stamping machine, comprising a hollow body portion, a letterblock mounted in said body portion and movable inward and outwardrelatively thereto, a spring tending to draw said letter block inward,an air bag of flexible material mounted within said hollow body andbearing against said block, and means for supplying fluid pressure tothe interior of said air bag for forcing said letter block outward.

l1. A mold stamping machine, comprising a hollow body portion, a letterblock mounted in said body portion and movable inward and outwardrelatively thereto, an air bag of flexible material mounted within saidhollow body and bearing against said block, and means for supplyingfluid pressure to the interior of said air bag for forcing said letterblock outward.

12. A mold stamping machine, comprising a hollow body portion comprisinga plurality of relatively movable parts, a letter block mounted in saidbody portion and movable inward and outward relatively thereto, an airbag of flexible material mounted within said hollow body and bearingagainst said block, and mea-ns for supplying fluid pressure to theinterior of said air bag for spreading the parts of the body part andfor forcing said letter block outward.

13. A mold stamping machine, comprising a hollow body portion, a letterblock mounted in said body portion and movable inward and outwardrelatively thereto, an air bag of flexible material mounted within saidhollow body and bearing against said block, means for supplying fluidpressure to the interior of said air bag for forcing said letter blockoutward, and type letters removably mounted in said letter block.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Burlington, NewJersey, this thirty-first day of May, A. D. one thousand nine hundredand fifteen.

ALEXANDER T. DRYSDALE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for live cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of* Patents, Washington, ID. C.

